Abstract

The goal of the proposed research is to investigate the neural basis for processing the syntactic form of sentences using functional neuroimaging based on positron emission tomography (PET).
The specific aims are to use this approach to identify the areas of the brain that are involved in assigning different aspects of the syntactic structure of spoken and written sentences. The studies pursue results of a pilot study that indicates that certain aspects of syntactic processing activate pars opercularis of Broca's area. The studies make use of several experimental paradigms in order to provide converging evidence regarding the localization of syntactic processing.

  Funding Agency

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DC002146-02
Application #
2331276
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-HAR (01))
Project Start
1996-02-01
Project End
2000-01-31
Budget Start
1997-02-01
Budget End
1998-01-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
1997
Total Cost
Indirect Cost

  Institution

Name
Massachusetts General Hospital
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02199

  Publications

Rapp, Brenda; Caplan, David; Edwards, Susan et al. (2013) Neuroimaging in aphasia treatment research: issues of experimental design for relating cognitive to neural changes. Neuroimage 73:200-7
Caplan, David; Gow, David (2012) Effects of tasks on BOLD signal responses to sentence contrasts: Review and commentary. Brain Lang 120:174-86
Caplan, David (2010) Task effects on BOLD signal correlates of implicit syntactic processing. Lang Cogn Process 25:866-901
Caplan, David (2009) Experimental design and interpretation of functional neuroimaging studies of cognitive processes. Hum Brain Mapp 30:59-77
Caplan, David; Chen, Evan; Waters, Gloria (2008) Task-dependent and task-independent neurovascular responses to syntactic processing. Cortex 44:257-75
Caplan, David; Stanczak, Louise; Waters, Gloria (2008) Syntactic and thematic constraint effects on blood oxygenation level dependent signal correlates of comprehension of relative clauses. J Cogn Neurosci 20:643-56
Caplan, David (2006) Why is Broca's area involved in syntax? Cortex 42:469-71
Chen, Evan; West, W Caroline; Waters, Gloria et al. (2006) Determinants of bold signal correlates of processing object-extracted relative clauses. Cortex 42:591-604
Caplan, David; Chen, Evan (2006) Using fMRI to discover cognitive operations. Cortex 42:393-5; discussion 422-7
Caplan, David; Moo, Lauren (2004) Cognitive conjunction and cognitive functions. Neuroimage 21:751-6

Showing the most recent 10 out of 23 publications